JP1 Remotes

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

I've been playing with this and I think the one specific fault is that something in the macro for Watch OTA TV is making the TV think that it is being switched to HDMI 1. I think it is something that happens after the command for INPUT ANT is sent. Any ideas?

Edit: I was wrong. It's the HDMI switch discrete OFF signal, it's causing the input menu to pop up on the right hand side of the TV screen (acts like "input toggle" - if I press it again, each press advances the input on the TV) I guess for now the workaround is to not turn the HDMI switch off in the macro as it doesn't hurt anything to leave it on. However, I don't understand why it's doing this?

HDMI Switch OFF - NEC1 254.1.31

all commands known for TV are NEC1 2.125 or 64.191

Oddly, I can't seem to find a button that causes this action either on the Xsight or on the Harmony. So this is a new and exciting feature...

Also, the "5" button on the HDMI switch remote seems to power toggle the TV. So I thought, well, if I ever need to program in Input 5 I'll just select 4 and then UP or 1 and then DOWN.

Well, UP on the HDMI switch remote causes Channel+ on the TV

DOWN on the HDMI switch remote causes 5 on the TV

I'm really starting to hate this TV.

Another edit:

I've found that while in the "Watch Roku" activity if I hit "guide" it pops up the guide for the TV. I don't know why this is happening as that should be a null (tied to dummy device "Shut Down" whose purpose is to a) contain the power off macro and b) put up a message "Use Device Remote" for Roku, Chromecast, or Fire Stick) Am going to factory reset the remote and reupload and see if that does anything.

Another edit:

Factory reset fixed that problem. Apparently these things get confused if you bang them with multiple uploads without a reset.

I'm still getting super frustrated with this setup. I just reuploaded the files; everything is more or less working other than the above BUT for some reason the Oppo will eject during startup but only when I start the Watch Roku activity; also, I apparently need more delays. I already lengthened them, but when I cold start the Oppo and it was powered off in BDP mode, it needs more. grr snarl snarl.

I'm *this* close to just getting a new TV as this one really isn't that great; even though the Oppo will bottleneck everything at 1080p the TV is actually only 780p. However what guarantee do I have that I won't be in the exact same position WRT the TV picking up weird s**t from random other remote codes?

mdavej · Expert Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 4501

Thanks for all the detective work. But can you please summarize what you found on the Insignia discretes? Your file looks identical to my original file.

I also see your TV is a 32" model, where all the discretes already work. As I said in my notes in my upgrade, those discretes work in all Insignia Fire TV models under 43". So there are no missing commands to be found.

What exactly is the problem? I'm still scratching my head over this since these commands were already documented and tested very thoroughly on multiple Insignia models.

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

For some reason the commands seemed to work better if I changed the second device from 64 with no sub device to 64.191.

I had to change the arrows, OK, and BACK to your "Alt" codes to get them to work with this specific TV

Now I'm having issues with random stuff that shouldn't work with the TV causing actions that I didn't expect (see last message). Are the IR signals close enough to each other for this to happen, or do you think maybe this TV actually supports multiple codesets?

The Robman · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:13 pm Post subject:

mdavej · Expert Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 4501

The command that pops up the side bar is Dev 2.125 OBC 150 or a held (repeated) 2.125 159 (64 OBC 88). My TV doesn't have an "Input" toggle, so I don't know what that code is, but I'd love to have it if you can learn it.

I compared the above to 254.1 31, and they are kind of similar, but not so much that I would expect the TV to respond like it does. However, since the TV already responds to both device 2 and device 64 for the same commands, maybe it's pretty loose with its decoding. I think avoiding using those commands on your HDMI switch is the best workaround.

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

Good morning and thanks for the reply.

You may be right about placebo effect. Sometimes the TV responds to the remote right away and sometimes it is very sluggish.

As to learning commands, I'm not sure what you want me to do. The command is invoked by the original remote for the HDMI switch, so it's not "splatter" from a malfunctioning Xsight (although that does it too)

I could go through and brute force all the codes for 2.125, 64, and 254 and see what happens. I did it before for the BDP in the living room and it took me about an hour for one device code. I'm thinking that quite possibly the TV responds to a code set based around device 254 and that's why it's acting like this? Unfortunately a good quality IR controllable HDMI switch with the capability of having its auto-switching defeated and with discrete power codes is rare to begin with; it took me a while to find this model when my old Psyclone started acting up. In fact I'm pretty sure I started a thread here a while back searching for this feature set and I was pretty happy when I found this model (the one upstairs, on a different system, has been working flawlessly for months)

The Robman · Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2021 11:40 am Post subject:

You mentioned that various HDMI switch buttons are getting a reaction from the TV, is this regardless of which remote is sending the signal? In other words, when you press DISCRETE OFF or 5 on the original HDMI switch remote, does it still cause the TV to react, or is it just when they're sent from the JP1 remote?

mdavej · Expert Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 4501

Here's what I used to test my Insignia Fire TVs:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=26204

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

The Robman · Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2021 2:07 pm Post subject:

Does the switch have an INPUT+ button? If so, instead of using HDMI-5, you could make a macro that selects HDMI-4 and then does INPUT+.

As for the DISCRETE OFF function, if you only use that when shutting things down, if you follow it with a discrete off for the TV, it shouldn't matter that it triggered the TV's input menu.

If I were in your position, in addition to trying all OBCs for the TV's device code, I would also be scanning it for all OBCs for the switch's device code, just so I'd know which ones cause a conflict and maybe in the process you could discover some secret codes, which is always fun.
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

The Robman · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:55 pm Post subject:

mdavej · Expert Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 4501

Back when I had an HDMI switch it was entirely automatic. I never had to send any commands to it. It simply switched itself to the last source I turned on. My activity macros were quite simple.

Also have you considered not running everything through the Oppo? I thought only sources less than 1080 benefitted from its processing.

Lastly, have you attempted to use CEC to automate any input switching?

n8nagel · Joined: 03 Jun 2018 Posts: 185

mdavej · Expert Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 4501

Do you really need all those streaming devices? I understand you're using your own Firestick rather than the apps on the smart TV because it's your roommate's TV. But don't Roku and Chromecast do the same thing as the Firestick?

Not being critical, just trying to reduce the complexity of your system. So here's what I would do in your situation:

- Disconnect the Chromecast and Roku, and connect the Firestick directly to the TV, then use optical out from TV to opt in to your Oppo.
- Connect PC directly to TV

Now you can remove the HDMI switch entirely and use the optical out from the TV for PC, Firestick and OTA